diff --git a/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/BomUploadProcessingTask.java b/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/BomUploadProcessingTask.java
index ca5c2f3c78..c91bf33811 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/BomUploadProcessingTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/BomUploadProcessingTask.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 import org.owasp.dependencytrack.parser.dependencycheck.resolver.ComponentResolver;
 import org.owasp.dependencytrack.parser.spdx.rdf.SpdxDocumentParser;
 import org.owasp.dependencytrack.persistence.QueryManager;
-
+import org.owasp.dependencytrack.util.CompressUtil;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Date;
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ public class BomUploadProcessingTask implements Subscriber {
     public void inform(Event e) {
         if (e instanceof BomUploadEvent) {
             final BomUploadEvent event = (BomUploadEvent) e;
-            final byte[] bomBytes = event.getBom();
+            final byte[] bomBytes = CompressUtil.optionallyDecompress(event.getBom());
             QueryManager qm = new QueryManager();
             try {
                 final Project project = qm.getObjectByUuid(Project.class, event.getProjectUuid());
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/ScanUploadProcessingTask.java b/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/ScanUploadProcessingTask.java
index c0582fb516..66e67f0ad6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/ScanUploadProcessingTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/tasks/ScanUploadProcessingTask.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 import org.owasp.dependencytrack.parser.dependencycheck.resolver.LicenseResolver;
 import org.owasp.dependencytrack.parser.dependencycheck.resolver.PackageURLResolver;
 import org.owasp.dependencytrack.persistence.QueryManager;
+import org.owasp.dependencytrack.util.CompressUtil;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Date;
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ public void inform(Event e) {
             final ScanUploadEvent event = (ScanUploadEvent) e;
 
             final File file = event.getFile();
-            final byte[] scanData = event.getScan();
+            final byte[] scanData = CompressUtil.optionallyDecompress(event.getScan());
             try {
                 final Analysis analysis = (file != null)
                         ? new DependencyCheckParser().parse(file)
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/util/CompressUtil.java b/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/util/CompressUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb909d5746
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencytrack/util/CompressUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * This file is part of Dependency-Track.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) Steve Springett. All Rights Reserved.
+ */
+package org.owasp.dependencytrack.util;
+
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveEntry;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveException;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveInputStream;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveStreamFactory;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public final class CompressUtil {
+
+    private CompressUtil() { }
+
+    /**
+     * Helper method that attempts to automatically identify an archive and its type,
+     * extract the contents as a byte array. If this fails, it will gracefully return
+     * the original input byte array without exception. If the input was not an archive
+     * or compressed, it will return the original byte array.
+     * @param input the
+     * @return a byte array
+     */
+    public static byte[] optionallyDecompress(byte[] input) {
+        try {
+            ByteArrayInputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream(input);
+            ArchiveInputStream ais = new ArchiveStreamFactory().createArchiveInputStream(bis);
+            ArchiveEntry entry = ais.getNextEntry();
+            if (ais.canReadEntryData(entry)) {
+                return IOUtils.toByteArray(ais);
+            }
+        } catch (ArchiveException | IOException e) {
+            // throw it away and return the original byte array
+        }
+        return input;
+    }
+
+}